PISCATAWAY, NJ, November 23, 1999 - Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, the life sciences business of Nycomed Amersham plc (NYSE: NYE; LSE: NAM), announced today an agreement with BioFocus plc to co-market and distribute the newly launched SoftFocus ^TM compound libraries for primary screening. Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, already a world leader in the development of innovations in high-throughput drug screening including Leadseeker^TM Homogenous Imaging System, will now be the exclusive distributor of the compound libraries for North America.

BioFocus? SoftFocus^TM libraries will complement Amersham Pharmacia Biotech?s screening portfolio by offering additional targeted compounds for further screening. These primary screening libraries are directed at important biological target families, such as kinases and GPCRs, to offer optimum hit quality. Their diversity is designed specifically to address related groups of targets.

The first SoftFocus^TM libraries will target members of the protein kinase superfamily with known therapeutic value and will be provided as four arrays of about 1000 compounds each. Their rational design is achieved through practical integration of medicinal chemistry principles, computational design and combinatorial methodologies.

BioFocus will continue to market directly the remainder of its integrated chemistry products and services.

Dr David Stone, BioFocus? Chief Executive, said, "This agreement represents a very significant opportunity for BioFocus to expand its SoftFocus^TM library sales in North America. Amersham Pharmacia Biotech has a strong commercial presence built upon a successful background in screening technologies and we are looking forward to the development of our North American business with them."

Jack Ball, vice-president of marketing and sales support, North America, at Amersham Pharmacia Biotech commented on the agreement, "Amersham Pharmacia Biotech is delighted to be working with BioFocus. BioFocus? technical expertise in the new field of biologically directed lead discovery libraries matched with our expertise in drug screening offer customers another high value tool to improve their efficiency."

In North America :
Marcy Saack or Jeff Hoyak with MCS, at +1 908 273-9626

Outside North America :
Emma Ongley with Grayling, at + 44 171 255 1100.

At BioFocus :
Dr David Stone, Chief Executive Officer or
Mr Alan Clabon, Marketing and Customer Relations Director
Tel +44 (0)1795 412300 Fax +44 (0)1795 471123

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